Woohoo for mini-vacay!!

A couple of weeks ago, with the first of a few obscure Federal holidays coming up, I got the itch to plan a vacation. Jon had just had to back-out of a boy's weekend in Denver and his birthday was coming up so, I thought it was a perfect excuse to get away for a few days. Kind of last minute, we made reservations for Columbus Day weekend in the Smokies. What a cool place!! Besides the fact that it is October and it was freaking hot, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg were awesome. The leaves were just beginning to change and the mountains are just goregous. I love the Smokies... much prefer trees on mountains to jagged rock, I think. And, they're a heck of a lot closer than the Rockies :)

We rented a little one-bedroom cabin that had a pool table and dart board and tons of wood everywhere. It was pretty comfortable and we had DirecTV (but no Sunday Ticket or Center Ice... we're spoiled). We went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Aqurium, which was fun and we walked around Gatlinburg a bit. But, mostly, it was nice just to be lazy and relax. We watched some movies and enjoyed the hottub :)

If anyone wants to go on vacation with us, renting a cabin out there would be awesome. They have a TON of rentals available and there is so much to do.. I'd love to go back when it's cooler. The 90 degree weather was not fun and didn't feel like fall at all.

Check out all our pics in my picture album... in the meantime, here is one of our first, famous family self-portraits!



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